RAINDROPS

Chapter 13

Nick quickly pulls away his hand, disconnecting his hand from my arm. My eyes flutter and I'm completely disoriented for a second. What just happened? Nick is next to me and seems just as baffled. Although he is shaking his head. Did he see it too? My mind needs some time to wrap around the fact it was just a vision, nothing else. Yet if it is another vision, it means it's going to happen in the future.

Who was that guy? I've never seen him before. Maybe he belongs with Magnus. My face is wet from the tears, that are still rolling down my face. I died. It wasn't real, but it felt like it was. I'm still very much in shock, so I sit down on the couch with my hands on my face. 

I wish I could go back to before. I wish I could go back to before. I keep repeating the same words in my head, desperate for the simple life before all of this. Eventually it changes into; I want to go back.

It only stops when Nick comes to sit in front of me and removes my hands. It reminds me of the second time I ever saw him. I was in the middle of a panic attack at school, there were so many people around me I just couldn't handle it anymore. The only thing I could think of was to listen to music and get away from everything. That's how he found me, with my hands on my face underneath a table. My headphones blasted the music so loudly I never even heard him coming. I was so oblivious to the reality of my life then. It all changed when he came into it.

'Al?' he softly asks me. When I don't respond he asks a second time. 'Al, are you okay?' To show him some form of life I nod. Suddenly very aware of my teared up face, I wipe it dry with the back of my hand.

'Sorry. I... I just... Uh.' I can't seem to find the right words, but mostly I just don't want to talk. Experiencing what it is like to die just put me over the edge. I was threatened before and close to death, but this was different. The worst part is probably how real it felt. I didn't even know it was a vision until Nick pulled his hand back.

The doorbell rings, making me jump up. Nick seems distracted somehow, not even noticing the doorbell ring or me jump. He looks behind me at the wall, like there's something there. When I follow his gaze I see nothing. It should maybe concern me more, but all my attention is going to the front door. Will the vision happen now? Nothing happens. After a minute or so the bell rings again.

'Hello?' I hear someone say on the other side. The voice is not scared, it sounds more irritated. Jack walks in from the kitchen looking at us with a questioning face. 

'Why aren't you guys opening the door?' he sounds irritated as well and immediately walks toward the door to open it. My feet start forward and I'm about to yell NO! Don't open the door! But before I get the chance he is already opening the door, stopping me dead in my tracks. To my surprise nothing happens. 

The door opens to reveal a pizza delivery guy. There's annoyance on his face. 'Here's your pizza. That'll be ten dollars.' I let out a huge sigh of relief and while Jack pays the pizza guy I look at Nick. He still llooks distracted. Once again I wish I could just know what was going on inside his head.

'Did you see it too?' I ask him, as soon as Jack is back in the kitchen. He walked quickly, probably excited and hungry for the pizza, shaking his head as he went. I'm sure by now he's already speculating things, but what I know really well by now, is that Jack loves his food.

'Yeah, I did.' he answers. His face is blank, he looks lost somehow.

'Oh' 

'Are you okay? It must have been terrifying to see and feel.' he tells me. He's right, of course he is, but I don't want to think about it like that. I don't want him to see me as someone weak, someone who needs protection. I know I kind of do, but I am sick of it. Mostly I guess I just don't want him to see me as weak. I decide to act indifferent, almost like he is acting.